August 10th, 2010 by Harriet Hall, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion, Quackery Exposed, Research
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Glucosamine is widely used for osteoarthritis pain. It’s not as impossible as homeopathy, but its rationale is improbable. As I explained in a previous post:
Wallace Sampson, one of the other authors of this blog, has pointed out that the amount of glucosamine in the typical supplement dose is on the order of 1/1000th to 1/10,000th of the available glucosamine in the body, most of which is produced by the body itself. He says, “Glucosamine is not an essential nutrient like a vitamin or an essential amino acid, for which small amounts make a large difference. How much difference could that small additional amount make? If glucosamine or chondroitin worked, this would be a medical first and worthy of a Nobel. It probably cannot work.”
Nevertheless, glucosamine (alone or with chondroitin) is widely used, and there are some supporting studies. But they are trumped by a number of well-designed studies that show it works no better than placebo, as well as a study showing that patients who had allegedly responded to glucosamine couldn’t tell the difference when their pills were replaced with placebos. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Science-Based Medicine*
August 10th, 2010 by Medgadget in Better Health Network, Health Tips, News
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RN Tara Summers was inspired to make an iPhone app after a frightening episode where she saw her infant child choking. Because she was a nurse, she sprang into action and gave the Heimlich maneuver, but worried about parents (or babysitters) without the same training.
So, along with her emergency medicine physician husband, she created MedBasics — a readily-accessible information packet for the home about things to do in an emergency. Now they’re announcing an iPhone app called BabyMedBasics for emergencies when you’re not at home.
More from MedBasics…
iTunes link to the iOS app…
*This blog post was originally published at Medgadget*
August 10th, 2010 by Toni Brayer, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Tips, News, Opinion, Research, True Stories
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Nearly 450 people die each day of sudden cardiac arrest. Many times the bystanders who witness a person collapse don’t know what to do. They are afraid they will hurt the victim or they feel nervous about doing traditional cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) with mouth-to-mouth breathing and chest compressions.
New information published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) shows that hands-only CPR is potentially a lifesaving option to be used and it can improve the chance of survival equally as well as traditional CPR. This study confirms other reports that bystanders can save lives by doing chest compressions in adults and children who are not breathing. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at EverythingHealth*
August 9th, 2010 by Michael Sevilla, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion, True Stories
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They are changing the name of my med school alma mater and I am upset about it. But not for the reasons you may think.
I am a proud graduate of the Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine (NEOUCOM). This has been the name of the school since it opened its doors in 1973. Last week, the Board of Trustees unanimously voted to change the name of the school to the Northeast Ohio Medical University (NEOMU). In a press release from the school, the new president and dean, Dr. Jay Gershen, said this:
“The current name no longer reflects who we are as a University. In addition to a College of Medicine and a College of Pharmacy, we also added a College of Graduate Studies last year,” said Gershen. “We are a strong institution with a health sciences curriculum, and we want a strong name that reflects who we are and who we serve.”
I have talked with many alumni who are upset about this change. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Doctor Anonymous*
August 9th, 2010 by DrRich in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion
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Why Big Health Insurance Supported Obamacare, Part IV
In the past few posts (in particular, here and here), DrRich has shown why the health insurance industry embraced Obamacare, and indeed, took extraordinary steps to assure that Obamacare became the law of the land. This, of course, is especially interesting in light of the common perception that Obamacare constitutes a major defeat for the greedy health insurance industry.
But the fact that big health insurance gave critical support to Obamacare is far more than merely interesting. It has major implications both to supporters of Obamacare, especially the ones who hope for an eventual single-payer outcome, and to opponents of Obamacare, many of whom hope to repeal it after the 2010 mid-term elections.
For the health insurance industry to have supported Obamacare, especially in the manner that it did, leads us to three conclusions. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at The Covert Rationing Blog*
